Improvement in mowing-machines



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN D. VILBERY, OF POUGHKEEPSIE, NEWYORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN MOWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 37,656, dated February 10, 1.863.

To @ZZ whom, t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN l). WILBER, of Poughkeepsie, in the county of Dutchess and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved l\Iowing-Machine; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is aside sectional view of my invention, taken in the line x x, Fig. 2. Fig.' 2 is a plan or top view of the saine.

Similar letters of reference indicate'corrcsponding parts in the two figures.

The object of this invention is to obtain a mowing-machine in which all side draft will be avoided, and one which will leave the cut grass in a loose light state, be of easy draft, and capable of cutting directly back and forth, so as to avoid the trouble and inconvenience of cutting around a piece of grass.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, I will proceed to describe it with reference to the drawings.

A represents an axle having its wheels B B of equal diameter and placed loosely upon-it.

y O is the main frame of the machine, compose d of two parallel side bars, a a, connected by cross-bars b, and having the finger-bar D attached to their frontends. The front parts of the side bars, a a, are curved outward, as shown in Fig. 2, in order that the nger-bar may be of sufficient length. I

E is the sickle, which may be ofthe ordinary reciprocatingkind, and fitted on thefnger-bar in the usual or-in any proper way. rIhe side bars, a a, of the main frame are fitted loosely on the axle A, so that they willturn freely upon it, and the part of the main frame in front of the axle is heavier than that of the back part, so that the nger-bar will have a tendency to rest upon the ground.

F represents the draft-p ole, which is attached permanently to the front end of aseniicircular bar, G, the end of said bar being also fitted loosely on the axle A, so that they willturn freely upon it. rIhe barGhas the driversseat H attached to it by upright bars or supports'b.

Each wheel B has a geared. rim, I, secured concentrically to it, and into these rims pinions .I .I gear, said pinions being on the ends of a shaft, K, which is placed in the back part of the main frame O, parallel with the axle A. On the shaft K, at about its center, there is placed a bevel-wheel L, which gears into a bcvel-pinion, M, on the outer end of a small shaft, N, placed longitudinally in the main frame O. The shaft N is provided with a crank, c, which is connected by a rod, O,with alever, P. This lever I? is attached by a fulcrum-pin, d, with one of the side bars, a, of the main frame C, and the front end of said lever is attached to one end of the sickle E. Each side bar, c, of the main frame O is connected to the semi circular bar G by a chain, c, and to one end of the side bars, a, a lever, Q, is attached, said lever extending upward within the reach of the driver on the sea-t H.

R is a double-tree, which is attached to the draft-pole F, and has a whiflietree, S, at each end of it. The double-tree R is of considerable length, so that the horses will bc beyond the ends of the finger-bar, as will be seen by referring to Fig. 2. By this arrangement it will be seen that each wheel B is a driving wheel, and hence no side draft can be produced by the action of the sickle-driving mechanism, and as the team is directly in front of the iinger-bar and sickle there can be no side draft occasioned by the position of the line of draft relatively with the sickle, asis the case when the finger-bar and sickle are at one side ofthe team. rlhe chains e e form a connection between the main frame O, and admits ofthe 1inger-bar being taken off from the surface of the ground, thereby greatly diminishing the draft of the machine, and at any time when necessary-as in passing over obstructions, turning the machine, &c.-the finger-bar and sickle may be elevated by throwing back thelever Q. As the machine is drawn along one horse walks in the grass and the other over the mown or cut surface; but thisis no objection, as the next cut or swath is made directly back adjoining the other, and the grass lodged by the horse will be bent over toward the machine, thereby facilitating rather than reta-rding the cutting process. 1

This machine may be constructed equally as cheap as the ordinary ones in use, and it is extremely durable, there being no parts liable to get out of repair, as there are none which are subjected to any great stress or strain. The

mowing-machines in most common use-those having the nger-bar and sickle proj ecting out from one side ofthe main frame-not only cause a great side draft, but also one liable to be.

nearly vertical as possible, all as herein set forth.

2. The combination of the draft-pole F, at-

tached centrally to the main frame, the cutting`- apparatus D E, placed centrally in front ot' and driven by both the Wheels BB, and adouble-tree, R, of such length and so placed as to separate the sin gle-trees S S to a distance greater than the length ofthe cutting apparatus, all as herein shown and described, and for the purposes set forth.

JOHN D. VILBER.

Titnessesz E. J. XVILBER, J. I. JAcKsoN, Jr. 

